Property taxes are on the way up in the Methacton School District. The school board has approved a budget for the next school year that includes an increase of 1.85%. That translates into about $90 for the average homeowner. The budget includes no program cuts but some positions were not filled. The staff reductions include two teachers at the elementary level that were furloughed. The other six cuts are the result of retirements.

The Central Bucks School District is parting ways with its superintendent. In a joint statement issued Friday, it was announced Doctor Rod Green will leave the district at the end of July. Green received his contract almost a year ago. It would have run through July, 2016 with a $225,000 a year salary. No reason was given for the early departure. The school board will hold a town meeting style gathering for district employees on Wednesday.

Insufficient paperwork….with those two words, a judge denied the Souderton Charter School Collaborative its request to open a charter school in the North Penn School District. An attorney representing the collaborative immediately went on the offensive, saying the paperwork presented by the charter school was correct and should have been accepted by the judge. Attorney Michael Brooks plans to file another document in an effort to move the process forward in establishing the charter school desire of opening the school. According to Jack Dooley, the attorney for the North Penn School District, the judge’s ruling was accurate because documentation provided by the collaborative did not include the names of the operators of the school or its location. Another hearing before a judge is likely on the way.

The Lansdale law firm of Dischell, Bartle and Dooley has appointed solicitor of the Methacton School District. It will provide the school board with general legal counsel for 150-dollars per hour. Partner, Frank Bartle says the law firm has been serving school districts and municipalities for a long time.

“We’ve represented school districts and have done school law work for the last 20 years and we’ve done municipal work close to 30-years.”

The clients of the law firm include, the North Penn and Hatboro-Horsham School Districts, as well as, Montgomery, Towamencin and Franconia Townships.